April 20, 2009

Dragging Main

We went to Termoli, a town on the Italy's eastern coast on a Sunday. Apparently, it is tradition on Sundays to get all dressed up and walk down the main drag of a town. Now, to clarify, 'getting all dressed up' means something special in this part of Italy. For example:





Once you have arrived in your finest, you mingle and spend a good portion of the day walking up and down that same street. It is like what my mom and dad used to do in a little town in northern Utah called Logan, where as teenagers they would drive their cars up and down Main Street on Friday nights: 'Dragging Main.'

All the folks together:



A particularly funny aspect of all of this was the people's reactions to Xavier's shoes. Xavier, in general, is a stylish brute. However, on this trip, he decided to shame himself by taking only his Crocs (yes, Crocs - red) and these Birkenstocks:



This is relevant because if Italians are obsessed by one thing, it is shoes (well, shoes, motorcycles, cars, women - I guess the list is quite long), but they do know how to do shoes. Every person we passed while dragging Main that day stared at Xavier's feet and almost gasped in horror. I was delighted. (Marco was walking, ashamed, on the opposite side of the street). It is usually Xavier doing the gasping. Ah ha ha.

3 comments:

Mels said...

that is so funny! I love hearing your stoires, love you all

Jill said...

Dragging main in red Crocs. Very classy!

Julie said...

I loved the picture of the street thronging with people out for their Sunday visit and stroll. It seems so removed from the suburbia of the US.

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